Texas Judge Tonya Parker is sparking controversy with her refusal to marry straight couples until the LGBT community has equal rights under the law, reports the NY Daily News.
Parker explained her decision at a monthly meeting for the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas:
“I do not perform them because it is not an equal application of the law. Period,” she said.
According the Daily News, Parker, the first openly lesbian African-American elected official in the history of the state according to NBC News, is honest with the couples that she turns away, refusing to let them leave unclear about her decision:
“I use it as my opportunity to give them a lesson about marriage equality in the state because I feel like I have to tell them why I’m turning them away,” said Parker. “So I usually will offer them something along the lines of, ‘I’m sorry. I don’t perform marriage ceremonies because we are in a state that does not have marriage equality, and until it does, I am not going to partially apply the law to one group of people that doesn’t apply to another group of people.”
Though the Dallas Voice reports that there have been critics who claim that Parker is willfully neglecting her judicial duties by not marrying hetero couples, her response makes it clear that they do not have a clear understanding of the law:
I faithfully and fully perform all of my duties as the Presiding Judge of the 116th Civil District Court, where it is my honor to serve the citizens of Dallas County and the parties who have matters before the Court.
“Performing marriage ceremonies is not a duty that I have as the Presiding Judge of a civil district court. It is a right and privilege invested in me under the Family Code. I choose not to exercise it, as many other Judges do not exercise it. Because it is not part of our duties, some Judges even charge a fee to perform the ceremonies.
According to GayMarriage.ProCon.com, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Washington, and the District of Columbia have all legalized same-sex marriage. Governor Martin O’Malley (D-Maryland), signed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in his state on February 24, reports ABC News. Thirty states have constitutional amendments banning gay marriage — Texas is one of them.
That brand of legal revisionism and inequality lives at the root of Parker’s refusal to join heterosexual couples in matrimony:
“…It’s kind of oxymoronic for me to perform ceremonies that can’t be performed for me, so I’m not going to do it,” she said.

The Strange Lessons of Whitney Houston’s Addiction
FEB 14 2012, 4:13 PM ET 18
Drugs turned a superstar into a joke. Only in death did she become a superstar again.

AP Images
Weird. I added that single-word sentence to a text I sent alerting someone about Whitney Houston’s death Saturday night. I’m not sure why I thought it was weird. Drug addicts die for any reason or no reason at all, fairly frequently. And after Miss Houston had spoken of herself in the royal first-plural to Diane Sawyer in 2002—”We don’t do crack”—and made it clear that she was either still using or just loony, it should have been plain that she was too far gone to ever be normal again. And still, her death was weird. Coming so many years after the height of her spectacle of crazy, Whitney Houston’s demise felt like a weird afterthought to all the other weird.

Obituaries have referred to Houston as a “cautionary tale.” For Jennifer Hudson or Beyoncé maybe—though Jay-Z is nothing like Bobby B. But are the rest of us in any position to profit from Houston’s example? It’s not like her life or lifestyle represents anything like what even most drug abusers experience: fortune and fame amplify everything. (I know the Twelve Step cant insists that all addicts are the same, but back in reality, that just isn’t so.)

Think of Whitney in the moments before she died, having no idea she would be remembered so gloriously. Kind words about her have hardly been spoken publicly in years. There is something both lopsided and inevitable in that the media and the entertainment industry that has been (understandably) ridiculing Houston’s behavior for at least a decade—with an extra bright gold star to Maya Rudolph and Saturday Night Live—is now mourning her unapologetically. In fact, they are mourning her competitively, everyone trying to out-sad the commentator in the next swivel chair. But what else can anyone do? Mourn her ironically? Or not at all? Laugh at Being Bobby Brown and the fact that she forgot to pay the bill on her storage space for so long that finally the contents were auctioned off? Addicts are simultaneously tragic and hilarious. That’s just how it is.
As the high-octave Mariah Carey and the high-drama Adele prove, big female voices, while relatively rare, do in fact come along every few years in the recording industry. We even ooh and aah over Christina Aguilera’s ability to hit the notes. I have lost count of the number in my lifetime of young and pretty singers that have been excessively and insanely described as operatically trained or as if they were coloratura sopranos. Yes, Houston’s gospel-choir background gave style and soul to The Voice. But Houston was unique for another reason: Her singing was brilliantly adult, but her mien was so young and just so lovely. She was a Seventeen cover girl—and it mattered that it wasn’t Vogue, that she was dewy instead of drop-dead gorgeous, that she was beautiful in a pretty way that made you love her more. Houston’s guileless perfection wasn’t just part of her image; it was the whole thing. She was an American sweetheart, perfect for the “Star Spangled Banner,” and it’s true, no one has ever done it better.

The trouble for the public with Houston’s drug addiction and all that occasioned it was that the thing that made her special—the beauty that seemed to run deep, that seemed to bespeak a genuine sweetness and innocence—turned into a crackhead ugly knowingness. Yes, it ruined her voice, but the real problem was that it ruined her.

MORE ON MUSIC

The Imperial Whitney Houston
The Reverent, Ridiculous Grammys
Michael Jackson’s Misunderstood Power
Where’s the Next Great, New Musical Instrument? Which is what drugs do.
When I was in the rehabilitative treatment center—what the AA Big Book calls the hopper and what’s commonly known as rehab—the statistic that was thrown around was that one in 35 addicts will get and stay clean and sober. Since I haven’t used for nearly 14 years, I shudder thinking about the other 34 people. But I’ve always been told that if you are careful and can get a consistent supply of heroin, like many old blues musicians, you can live to be a very old junkie. Alcohol is mean and ugly and leads to a lot of sleeping at the wheel, but with an accommodating family and an enabler or two, people find all kinds of ways to booze around for a lifetime of drunken hijinks and lowliness. Cocaine is too exhausting, so you either quit altogether or switch to something quieter. And, of course, there are the vast majority of drug addicts who in one way or another—in car accidents or not-accidents, by accidental and non-accidental overdose, or simply because they live badly—are killed by addiction. Often it’s later rather than sooner. Houston is not weird at all.

And maybe this is a cautionary tale. But not in the way the eulogizers mean. It’s a warning of how very alone we all are. That’s not really news, but what is easy to forget is how close to the brink some of us are. Think of Houston by herself in a room at the Beverly Hilton in the moments before she died, having no idea she would be remembered so gloriously, because kind words about her have hardly been spoken publicly in years. As for the people close to her, maybe they were irresponsible, maybe they were sick of listening, maybe they were busy, maybe they didn’t hear the phone ring, maybe they gave up long ago—and really, who could blame them? It’s a terrible tragedy of life that a person only gets her due in death—and we all know that you can’t be a guest at your own funeral.

Gay woman wants priest relieved of duties after communion

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) – A lesbian woman from the nation’s capital wants a Catholic priest relieved of his duties after he denied her communion at her mother’s Maryland funeral because she lives with another woman, she said on Wednesday.

The local archdiocese has apologized for the actions of Father Marcel Guarnizo, but Barbara Johnson, who is gay and lives with her lesbian partner, said that was not enough.

Guarnizo officiated at a funeral mass for Loetta Johnson on Saturday at Saint John Neumann Catholic Church in Gaithersburg, about 25 miles northwest of Washington. He told attendees that only church members in a “state of grace” would be allowed to receive communion, Johnson said.

Johnson said that when she approached, the priest covered the communion chalice with his hand, “looked me in the eye and said ‘I cannot give you communion because you live with a woman.'”

The priest told her “in the eyes of the church, that is a sin,” she said. She and her family told the Archdiocese of Washington, which has issued an apology.

Catholic church teachings condemn homosexuality, and the church considers homosexual acts to be sinful. But the Archdiocese said in a statement that questions about a person’s right to receive communion should be addressed privately and it was not policy to “publicly reprimand” worshipers.

The Archdiocese would not comment on Guarnizo’s status, citing the matter as a personnel issue. Johnson said she does not want to focus on the incident as a gay-rights issue but wants the priest to stop doing pastoral work for the way he handled her mother’s service.

“We’re urging the church to make that decision, so that this doesn’t happen to anyone else, to any other families,” Johnson said. “It’s the right thing to do.”

“I think everyone has their gifts, and my family believes performing the responsibilities of a parish priest does not fall under his list of gifts,” she added.

(Editing By Ellen Wulfhorst and Cynthia Johnston)

Copyright © 2012, Reuters

Pleading the Blood Against a Home Attack
or those of you who believe in the power of pleading the blood of Jesus for deliverance and protection, we just received a very good testimony from a woman in S. Africa.
Long story short, she received a very strong unction from the Lord one day to walk around her house and plead the blood of Jesus as a bloodline around her house. She at first was not going to do it, as the lawn had not been mowed yet and she did not like walking in the long grass.
However, knowing that she was receiving a leading from the Lord to do this, she went ahead and obeyed and walked around her house pleading the blood of Jesus so she could have His protection around her house. This was done at 18:00 S. African time.
6 hours later, which would have been at midnight, she found out the next day that her next door neighbor’s house had been literally broken into right at that midnight hour. This woman was also having a dream right at midnight of a demon called “breaking in” sitting on top of the gate leading into her house.
This woman is sure the Lord prevented these criminals from breaking into her house by the way all of this took place literally 6 hours after she had just got done pleading the blood of Jesus around her house as a hedge of protection.
This woman has given us permission to release her word-for-word testimony for this article. In our article titled, “How to Plead the Blood of Jesus for Deliverance and Protection,” we talk about pleading the blood of Jesus around your property as a bloodline. There have been documented cases of Christians having their homes spared damage from earthquakes, etc. as a result of doing this with the Lord.
This testimony is just another good example of God protecting one of His own as a result of her obeying His leading to plead the blood of Jesus around her house as a protective bloodline.
Here is her word-for-word testimony.
May God Bless you for this website and for educating us. I have a testimony to share regarding the pleading of the Blood of Jesus Christ.
I used to stay in Benoni, South Africa and I just started walking around my house pleading the Blood of Jesus. This day I did not want to go out and do it. I thought that I will just do when I pray. But I felt an urgency on my spirit to actual go outside and walk around the property and plead the Blood. The time was about 18h00 South African time, and my lawn was not mowed so I do not like walking in the long grass especially when it was getting dark, so I thought no I will plead the Blood the next day. But I had such a conviction to go out that very same day. Eventually I went out and run around the property pleading the Blood.
That same night I had a dream somebody waking me up and telling to look outside towards my gate. When I looked I saw some funny thing sitting on top of my gate, and I asked the person who woke me up what are those things sitting on my gate. The person told me that those were demons for “breaking in” that there were going to break into my house. Then suddenly I woke up and then I realized that it was a dream. When I looked at my watch, it was 24H00(midnight). I just prayed and slept.
The next morning I was told that some people broke into my next door neighbor’s house at midnight the exact time I was having that dream. I thanked God because I realized then that If I was disobedient and did not plead the Blood, it would have been me, they would have broken into my house. So people it works.
I thank you for this article because now I know more about the pleading of the Blood and will pray these prayers.
God Bless you.
Anne
When you analyze this testimony, you have to ask yourself – what are the odds that she received a leading from the Lord to plead the blood of Jesus around her house as a bloodline and then literally 6 hours later, her next door neighbor’s house literally gets broken into. Coincidence? We do not think so.
And then to have a dream at midnight, at the exact same time her neighbor’s house was getting broken into, of a demon named “breaking in” sitting on top of her gate. Again, another coincidence? We do not think so.
And then to top it off, this woman initially did not want to obey the leading to do this, as the grass had not been mowed yet and she did not like walking in the long grass, especially with it getting dark outside.
There are 3 big tells in this testimony to show that this was not a coincidence, but a real leading from the Lord to actually do this. As a result, it looked like she prevented her house from actually getting broken into by these criminals.
I know pleading the blood of Jesus for deliverance and protection is a big controversial issue in the Body right now. But for the record, we still believe in it and will continue to pass on more good testimonies to show that this form of offensive prayer really does work.
As a closing remark, this woman responded back with a little more information on how she had used this in the past with both herself and her children. Again, here is the word-for-word email she had just sent me:
Good day,
Yes, it is more than OK. It is good when we testify. It shows or demonstrate that we are grateful and thank the Lord for delivering us out of those situation, and we thank Him for His mercy and love towards us and our family.
In actual fact, I have seen the goodness of the Lord in my life and my children on many occasions. It just that after reading the testimonies on your website I became more convinced that it was because of the Blood of Jesus that I and my children have been protected from circumstances and accidents that could have claimed our lives.
I used to offer a prayer like this every night – “Thank you Lord for your precious Blood that protects us against accidents, violence and any sorts of evil.”
My younger son was once ran over by a car, in front of my very own eyes on his way to school in full view of all other people who were at the bus stop waiting for a bus. That day we all saw a miracle as the driver of the vehicle stopped the car and we were frantic looking for this child underneath this car,(because we all saw him go under and then just went over him). Then he called us on the other side, no harm came over him, not even a single scar, no bleeding, not even a single mark.
And I myself have been in a car accident, was driving and my car overturned and I came out clean, no harm came over me, A truck once ran over me and even then the Lord still kept me safe under His wings and shelter.
My elder son Thando, it will be correct to say he died and the Lord brought back……………………..Thank you for your website. Thank you Lord Jesus for shedding your Blood for me and my family.
So the Blood of Jesus is our shield. He is our Shield.
I saw your website as I was searching to find and to know more about the Blood of Jesus. I have Joyce Meyer’s book, Benny Hinn, Baxter, and I want to know more and experience the deliverance.
Remain Blessed.
Anne